No Center? No Problem

The only thing that the Reignmakers seemed to miss with Kerry Hunter on the bench with a back injury was the jump ball.

Everything else went smoothly.

The Reignmakers grabbed a season best 55 rebounds and had four players in the double digits rebounds on the night as they found another way to win, 51-41, against Buckeye Superwash.

Brandon Hunter, Jason Hunter, Andy Kempf, and Ryan Stuver all picked up the slack underneath as they had 13, 14, 10, and 14 rebounds respectively. Brandon and Andy tied season highs, while Jason and Stuver bested theirs.

"We all knew the areas in which we had to step up with our big guy out tonight," Ryan Stuver said afterward. "It was good to see the team effort on the boards."

The shots were not exactly falling for the second night in a row. The game as actually still tied at zero after about five minutes in the first half, but the Reignmakers found the bucket and lead 21-12 at the half. Those 12 points being the least given up in one half by the team this year.

The second half was more of the same, but Buckeye made a run early when the 2-3 zone started to break down.

"There one guy had a bunch of shots in the lane, easy shots," Coach Hunter commented later, "for the first time this whole year we actually saw our defense break down because we got tired, only having 6 guys dressed tonight."

Clinton Weigel was also missing from the lineup after heart surgery and the team does not have a time table for his return.

But with subsitutions down the stretch, the Reignmakers kept their composure and finished off strong. The team only managed two free throws all night, both misses, but kept battling underneath even if the calls were not going their way.

Brandon Hunter lead the way on the offensive end making good on 5 of 10 from two point range (22 points). Jason Hunter (13 points) got to the basket more and Mike Petrilli (12 points) kept his hot hand from three as he connected on all four of his attempts from deep. Stuver (2 points) and Kempf (2 points) found holes behind the zone while Chad Dobson played the most minutes of his year and took his defense to heart. He attacked the rim on the other end and was the sole free throw taker on the night.

The Reignmakers final matchup of the regular season is next Monday against Your Carpenter. The team will then have a week to rest as the playoff tree is created and seeded. Another win should help the Reignmakers climb to either number one or two in the seeding, which would give them a great path in the playoffs.